Luke has had a cough, chest congestion, runny nose (cold) for over a month. However two Fridays ago (14th) he starts wheezing, having coughing attacks, and labored breathing. We were in the doctors the next Monday and Tuesday. At that point she put him on 3 day steroid, antibiotics and had us start giving him breathing treatments every 4 hours or whenever he needed it. At our Monday appointment she noticed what looked like a good amount of blood through out his stool. She tested it and confirmed it was indeed blood. There are so many reasons why there could be blood in stool but one of the most common ones is a milk allergy. Not completely surprising since Lo has a milk allergy as well. At that she told me to completely remove milk from my diet since I am breast feeding him. Up to this point I haven't been having a ton anyways, but I still baked and cooked with butter and cheese. She wasn't completely convinced the blood was from the milk so ordered stool samples be done. Side note, boy was that fun collecting all that poop. Story for a different day. ;)
Before we left the doctors office on Tuesday she said she wanted us to return on Friday for a follow up. On Wednesday we called the doctors office because Luke's breathing had become even more labored and stayed that way the whole day. He also started to have a hand full of coughing attacks in which his tongue and lips turned blue. We spoke with the Doctor and she sent us to Children's. We got a chest x-ray done and they tested him for Pertussis (whooping cough). Chest x-ray came back clear. That was a huge relief for me. The Pertussis came back inconclusive. (or something like that)
Thursday was the same, then on Friday we went in to Doctor for our follow up. At that point, the doctor was not comfortable with all the factors of Luke's situations; week long labored breathing, turning blue, chronic cough, inconclusive whooping cough test, and blood in stool. One of the fears that she expressed was apnea due to his long term labored breathing. (yeah that freaked me out) At that point she called up to Children's Hospital to speak with a specialist to get a second opinion. They said it was a no brainer and that he needed to be admitted for observation and further tested.
We dropped Lo off with my Mom and headed Children's Hospital. They gave him another round of steroids and a series of breathing treatments. They did another chest x ray, a nasal swab, blood work, and tested again for Pertussis. They admitted Luke so they could observe him over night. Apollo room 523 would be our home for the night. It made me so thankful that we were there for nothing serious like so many of those sweet little children that are there long term with serious illnesses. It just broke my heart to walk the hall of Apollo. What a reality check and a dose of perspective.
Trav's parents left Friday after work and drove from Oregon to be with Lo so we could have freedom to be Luke. WHAT A BLESSING. We were release Saturday afternoon. We haven't gotten all the test results back but the Pertussis did come back negative. While we really are not sure what Luke has/had, (they labeled him bronchiolitis/RSV at Children's) he is doing MUCH better. His breathing is back to normal and he hasn't had any coughing attacks since Friday. Currently we are hanging out at home doing breathing treatments every 4-6 hours and just laying low. We are trying to keep Lo and Luke separated because Logan woke up with a fever and we do not want Luke to get anything else. But everyone is happy and conformable. I just made some fresh salsa and we are waiting to watch the LOST finale tonight. Cannot wait!
Here are some pictures of our stay an Children's. Trav and I got particularly bored at one point and so I was taking some pictures of him making funny faces. It was a good laugh for me. Hope you enjoy too.
getting ready to leave...
My favorite funny face. This made me laugh soooo hard.
